Jeter bails out Rivera in Yankees win over Orioles

Video

BRONX, New York (Ticker) - Since the All-Star break the New York
Yankees have led the majors in many categories. Blown saves
and game-winning infield hits were not among them.

After Mariano Rivera blew his first save in nearly four months,
Derek Jeter's infield single with one out in the bottom of the
ninth inning scored Melky Cabrera as the Yankees opened a
three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles with a dramatic
7-6 victory on Monday night.

The Yankees won for the ninth time in their last 10 games and
also improved to a major league-best 24-8 since reaching the
All-Star break at 43-43.

A majority of those wins have seen the formula of power hitting
and reliable performances from Rivera but the opener against the
Orioles, who posted two victories over Boston in their final
at-bat was anything but easy.

"That's why it's important to win yesterday," Yankees manager
Joe Torre said after his team's fifth walk-off win. "You just
carry that over. We've been on the balls of our feet, we're not
waiting for something to happen. We're making things happen."

The Orioles opened a 3-0 lead in the first inning only to see it
erased. They twice made it a one-run game, getting within 6-5
on a pair of wild pitches by Ron Villone in the seventh.

"It just goes to show you, we're not going to give the game
away," Baltimore manager Dave Tremblay said. "We're not going
to give at-bats away."

That set the stage for their meeting with Rivera, who had been
virtually automatic in converting his last 19 save opportunities
dating to April 20.

Rivera ran into trouble instantly as Melvin Mora singled to
right-center field and took second on a groundout. Tike Redman,
who had scored in the seventh, came up and lined a single
Cabrera, who threw a perfect relay throw from center field to
catcher Jorge Posada.

"Everybody knows he throws a cutter," Redman said. "I've never
faced him, just seen him a lot on TV. That's the best cutter
I've ever seen. It just got in on me."

"I coached third base for a long time," said Tremblay, whose
team is 10-23 in one-run contests. "It's easy to second-guess
the play. I think you play to win the game when you're on the
road."

Cabrera's outstanding throw prevented the game from being tied,
but Brian Roberts singled to shallow right center and right
fielder Bobby Abreu's throw was off-target as Redman scored.

The Orioles failed to scored another run when Corey Patterson
flied out and Chad Bradford (1-5) came in to get the game into
extra innings. He got the first out but coincidentally as the
scoreboard showed that Kyle Farnsworth was warming up, the
Yankees began their rally.

Cabrera started the rally when he was plunked by Bradford and
went to third on pinch hitter Jason Giambi's single to right.
Moments later, he scored when Jeter hit a squibber that went off
Bradford's glove.

"My approach (was) to get a strike and hit it," said Jeter,
whose infield hit also defeated Pittsburgh in the 10th inning on
June 8. "It wasn't a strike and I didn't hit too well. You're
not always going to hit it hard but just hit it in the right
spot."

"It's great," Rivera said. "Today I wasn't able to hold the
lead, so the guys came back and scored."

Not only did Jeter's hit extend New York's latest winning streak
to four games, it gave Rivera (3-3) the victory and showed that
the Yankees can win one-run games. They improved to a
season-high 16 games over .500 (67-51) and have won six of their
last eight games decided by a run.

"That's good," Abreu said. "I think with no matter what we're
trying to win the game and how we ended it today was a little
emotional for everybody. I think no matter what we showed (the
resiliency) to just win the games.

Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie, who beat New York on July 27
when he outpitched Andy Pettitte and limited them to two runs
and six hits in six innings of a 4-2 victory, was not nearly as
effective in this one.

In his subsequent two starts, Guthrie allowed nine runs and 17
hits in 9 1/3 innings against Boston and Seattle and early on,
he was not sharp.

Staked to a 3-0 lead, Guthrie gave up a two-run home run to
Abreu with one out in the first and a two-run shot to newly
acquired Wilson Betemit with one out in the second.

That put the Yankees in front 4-3 and they added to their lead
when Cabrera extended his career-high hitting streak to 18 games
with a two-out double in the fourth.

The Yankees added another run in the fifth when Posada's RBI
single knocked out Guthrie, who allowed six runs and nine hits
in just 4 2/3 innings.

Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang, who allowed eight runs and nine
hits in 2 2/3 innings last Wednesday in Toronto, gave up five
runs and seven hits in six-plus frames.

The righthander opened the game by allowing the first four
Orioles to reach and faced a 2-0 deficit on Miguel Tejada's RBI
single. Wang gave up another run when Kevin Millar bounced into
a double play but that began a stretch in which he recorded
nine of the next 14 outs on the ground.

That stretch ended when Corey Patterson homered in the fifth to
cut the Yankees lead to 5-4, and the lead appeared to be in
jeopardy when Nick Markakis walked on four straight pitches. But
Wang retired Tejada on inning-ending groundout and worked
around a one-out single to Aubrey Huff in the sixth.

Wang's night ended when Redman opened the seventh with a base
hit. Villone recorded the first out but threw a pair of wild
pitches that allowed Redman to score.

After allowing Redman to make it a one-run game, Villone needed
one pitch to retire Markakis on a groundout to second.

Before Rivera blew his third save, rookie Joba Chamberlain made
his Yankee Stadium debut and struck out two in the eighth.